CodeX Book Club, Chapter 14: Elon Musk

I’ve now been at CodeX for 15 months, and I’ve been devouring books about startups—and the people who head up startups. I’m definitely starting to see patterns in the profiles of these leaders. Most dramatically, are the similarities in personalities among Steve Jobs (Apple), Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and Elon Musk (Tesla Motors, SpaceX, PayPal, etc.)

CodeX Book Club, Chapter 14: Elon Musk

 

★★★★ Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, by Ashlee Vance.  HarperCollins. 5/19/2015
Unabridged audiobook
Narrator: Fred Sanders.
Excerpt on YouTube (Audiobooks.com)

It doesn’t take a Ph.D in psychology to figure out that the three above-mentioned men would probably drive you crazy on a road trip to Lake Tahoe or cross country. No question about it — all three are/were exasperating, brilliant, obsessed, visionaries, often jerks and extremely focused on consumers. All three see potential where others are blind, and take risks that would frighten most multi-millionaires.

But they all have changed our world.

CodeX Book Club, Chapter 14: Elon Musk 2

 

Vance’s book is as fascinating as the other two men’s biographies. Like Jobs and Bezos, Musk had challenging childhood issues that would influence his personality to the detriment of many. But like the other two, he had visions that few others could imagine. Musk saw electric cars and life on Mars as attainable goals, not just science fiction movie plots. He also was an astounding risk-taker.

Musk’s story is powerful, especially in the context of the other two men. It’s inspiring and compelling, and like the others, often almost unbelieveable. These are very complicated, intense and not-always-likeable people, but truly visionaries all. It’s a great read!

CodeX Book Club, Chapter 14: Elon Musk 3

 

MORE
• Steve Jobs, by Walter Issacson. (NYT review.)
Becoming Steve Jobs, by Brent Shlender & Rick Tetzeil.
• “12 Books Steve Jobs Wanted You to Read” (Inc.) by Geoffrey James.
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon, by Brad Stone.

Elon Musk TED speech
“Every Elon Musk Video Channel”
Intragram elonmusk
• “Elon Musk: Triumph of His Will,” Esquire.

Monica Bay is a Fellow at CodeX and a freelance journalist and analyst. She is a member of the California bar. Email: mbay@codex.stanford.edu. Twitter: @MonicaBay.

Cover image: Clipart.com